Tue Jun 19, 2012

In the world of barbecue, it's so easy to have tunnel vision and see ribs only as rubbed down and slow smoked beauties. Sure there's lots of a variety in there—dry, KC sweet, Memphis tangy—but it's still a narrow view of what can be so much more. That's why I was so excited when I first saw these herb-encrusted baby back ribs on Another Pint Please, forcing me to expand my worldview of ribs, and I knew I just had to try time.

These baby backs couldn't be more different than their barbecue counterparts, starting with the rub. Dropping the complex mixed of dried spices, these still start with a rub, but one made entirely of fresh herbs.

Basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley are mixed together and pressed into both sides of the ribs. I was a little apprehensive about this at first, afraid the herbs may burn on the grill, but I put a lot of trust in Mike Lang's grilling abilities, so I went for it.

Then, departing from both low and slow, the rack was threaded on the rotisserie spit to cook over medium, indirect heat with no additional smoke. This in ingenious method to cook them, since the slowly rendering fat from the ribs will baste the rack in flavorful, porky greatness.

After about two and half hours, the ribs had turned to a beautiful reddish-brown and the herbs were solidly embedded in the meat to form a bark like none other I'd ever seen. At this point my mouth was watering.

But one final step of basting the ribs with a garlic and basil infused oil kept me from pulling the ribs and devouring them at that point. Just another half an hour and the meat was tender and these babies were ready for consumption.

Without smoke, the pork had a very mild flavor that let the subtleties of each herb come through. They were juicy and tender with just the right pull off the bone, but for such a barbecue freak as myself, they were lacking just something a little extra. I would put my money on that something being smoke, and if making them again, I'd throw on a wood chunk or two to coax a little more flavor into the rack, and then I'd deem these near perfect. More important though, these ribs have opened up my mind to think outside the smoker, and I'm now awash in dreams of ribs of all types, the question is just where to go next.

Herb-Encrusted Baby Back Ribs

A far cry from barbecue, these ribs are given a fresh herb rub, then threaded on a spit to slow rotate over a medium hot fire until tender and juicy.

Ingredients

1 rack of baby back ribs, trimmed of excess fat and back membrane removed

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup basil & garlic infused olive oil

Procedure

In a small bowl, mix together basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley. Set aside.

Liberally salt and pepper the front and back of the ribs. Sprinkle the herb mixture over both sides of the ribs, pressing the herbs into the meat with your fingertips.

Light one chimney 3/4 full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals in two piles on either side of the charcoal grate. Cover grill, close air vents and let temperature drop to 250 degrees. Thread ribs onto rotisserie spit, securing each end with rotisserie tines. Place spit on the grill, cover, open the air vents, and cook ribs until the meat starts to pull away from the end of the bone, about 3 hours, replenishing the fire with 10 lit coals on each pile half way through cooking to keep the temperature at 250 degrees.

Approximately 30 minutes before the ribs are done, baste the rack once with basil and garlic infused olive oil.

Remove spit from the grill and allow ribs to cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove ribs from spit, slice, and serve immediately.

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Comments

01

Mike saysWow, Josh, those look great! Your timing is crazy, too. I just cranked out a batch a couple Saturdays ago...with smoke! Sadly, they didn't turn out as good as usual, as I let them spin a little too long. For the the BBQ purists, make note that over the years I've had friends who are not solid BBQ eaters who can't get enough of these. It's a great alternative to smokey, sweet ribs. Thanks for the shout-out and all of those mouth watering photos!Posted Tue, Jun 19 2012 8:49pm

02

Russ says Hello Josh. Like you I am not a Pro Chef / Writter. I am just a Guy that likes to play with fire. I recently found your site and like the layout and info. I have bookmarked it to return often. I recently started a site on grilling, and would like very much if you could check it out and give me your thoughts. thank you in advance. my site is www.Grillingtipsandgadgets.com . Posted Wed, Jun 20 2012 1:56pm

03

Chris saysI've done the rotisserie rib technique with beef ribs but not pork. It's good that you take chances like that to do something different. Posted Fri, Jun 22 2012 10:38am

04

kenny reed saysHow would these turn out cooked in a traditional offset smoker? The pictures seem to indicate they were cooked more with direct heat than not to get that good charPosted Sat, Jun 22 2013 5:34pm

05

Josh says@Kenny reed They should turn out well. These weren't done over direct heat, but certainly hotter than the 225 degrees I normally smoke ribs. The real difference in these is the rotisserie, which bastes the meat in it's own juices, creating that rich and beautiful brown crust.Posted Thu, Jul 4 2013 12:42pm

06

Clutchngrab saysWhat kind of rotisserie setup do you use? I too have the weber smokey mtn and a 22 inch grill. It may be time to add a rotisserie to the mix.Posted Wed, Apr 16 2014 4:09pm

07

Josh saysI use the Weber Rotisserie, fits 22" kettles. I love it and think every griller should have one!Posted Thu, Apr 17 2014 9:39am